Valve’s September 2026 Steam Hardware Survey, read on October 2, puts QUEST 3 back at 26.90% of Steam users who own a VR headset—edging QUEST 2 at 25.80%—while PICO 4 and Sony PS VR2 each post their HIGHEST share across the chart’s full 18-month WINDOW.
Mixed News walked the September rows after Quest 2 had LED for July and August—its first stretch on top since August 2025. A 1.17-POINT DROP for Quest 2 and a 0.89-POINT GAIN for Quest 3 FLIPPED the order again. The survey measures only Steam users who report a VR headset, is optional and anonymous, and publishes NO absolute headcount, so single-point swings are NOISE as much as signal. For Metaverse Watcher, the SEPTEMBER print still MATTERS: Meta’s three current headsets together hold 63.77% of the chart, roughly where that bloc has sat all year.
September Shares, Row by Row
According to the Mixed News table drawn from Valve’s page at 12:26 UTC on October 2, the RANKING now reads:
- Meta Quest 3 — 26.90% (August 26.01%, +0.89)
- Oculus Quest 2 — 25.80% (August 26.97%, −1.17)
- Meta Quest 3S — 11.07% (August 11.50%, −0.43)
- Valve Index — 10.83% (August 11.07%, −0.24)
- Pico 4 — 4.76% (August 4.48%, +0.28)
- Oculus Rift S — 3.40% (August 3.39%, +0.01)
- Sony PS VR2 — 2.31% (August 2.24%, +0.07)
- HTC Vive — 2.26% (August 2.39%, −0.13)
- Windows Mixed Reality — 1.85% (August 2.08%, −0.23)
Quest 3’s LEAD over Quest 2 is only about one percentage point. Quest 3 still sits well below its May 2026 PEAK of 28.63%, when it capped a 10-month RUN before slipping behind Quest 2 in July. Quest 3S is also off its May high of 13.23%. These are SHARE figures among VR-reporting Steam accounts—not unit SALES and not installed BASE.
Pico 4 and PS VR2 Set Window Highs
Pico 4’s 4.76% and PS VR2’s 2.31% are each the HIGHEST either headset has posted from April 2025 through September 2026. PS VR2 has CLIMBED in each of the past FIVE months—a steady RUN for a platform that went out of STOCK on Sony’s own U.S. store in September, per Mixed News. Pico’s +0.28 move is smaller in absolute terms but enough to mark a new CEILING on an 18-month tape that rarely rewards older midrange HARDWARE.
At the other end, Valve Index at 10.83% matches its LOWEST print in the window and is far below the 16.91% it held in July 2025. Windows Mixed Reality at 1.85% is also at a window LOW. Quest 2’s 25.80% remains large but sits seven points under its July 2025 mark of 32.85%. The chart is aging out older tethered and WMR kits while Meta’s stack still DOMINATES the active Steam VR COHORT.
Steam Frame Missing; Platform Mix Reminds Why Shares Move
Valve’s own Steam Frame still has NO dedicated ROW, even though first reviews arrived September 18. Two opaque “Other” lines appear with no explanation of what each contains, so neither can stand in for Frame OWNERSHIP. Broader OS shares on the same survey show Windows at 95.03%, Linux at 3.05% after an 0.85-POINT DROP, and SteamOS Holo at 0.53%—context that matters when reading any VR percentage as a proxy for shipping SUCCESS.
Mixed News closes with the right caution: two headsets setting RECORDS in a survey that moves a point either way on who answers is a result that needs October to CONFIRM. Until then, September’s headline is clear enough for the beat—QUEST 3 RECLAIMED the Steam VR lead, and Pico 4 plus PS VR2 are not fading quietly. Full row detail and methodology notes are in the Mixed News report; Valve publishes the underlying Hardware Survey on Steam.